BOONE, THE HOME OF CELEBRITIES

     Continuing with some material that I, the Kornerman, presented in my October speech, "Boone-My Kind of Town," at the Boone County Historical Society.

     Through the years, many celebrities have connected with our community. We've talked previously about Boone native Mary Ellen Dowd, BHS-51, who became a Broadway star and Calista Flockhart, the daughter of Boone High graduates Ron and Kay Flockhart, BHS-51, who starred on national television as award winner Ally McBeal.

      The restaurant on the west side of South Story Street has had several occupants. Currently, LaCarretta Mexican restaurant occupies that spot. There's also a connected bar and many years ago, that Trestle Lounge was extremely popular, due to the fact that some great entertainment was always provided, especially on weekends.

     One of the visiting performances featured a very young and, perhaps, naive singer Anne Murray, a Canadian, who, as time passed, became the author of many award winning hit songs. She's still active today.

     Bob and Veloise Barstad were operating the restaurant at the time and I remember Bob telling me that it was a period in young Anne's career that was still on, somewhat, shaky ground. He told me he had some conversations with the young Anne who, tearfully, indicated she wasn't sure her singing career was going in a positive direction. She just didn't show lots of confidence at the time. By now, we all know what happened........."You Needed Me," "Just Another Woman in Love," "Snowbird" and many others.

     The Eisenhower's, Dwight "Ike" and Mamie, were frequent visitors to Boone when Mamie's close family members, Joel and Carolyn Carlson, were still living and longtime Boone residents.

     Eisenhower was even here during his presidential White House days and on one visit to Boone, Mamie had a short illness that required her to be hospitalized at the Boone County Hospital.

     Mamie, of course, was born in Boone and her birthplace has been secured through the years. A dedication of that home occurred in 1975 and guess who showed up for the ceremony? The great comedian Bob Hope, a close friend and supporter of the Eisenhower's, was here and I can recall a huge crowd that greeted him at Blair Park, just around the corner from Mamie's "home." That's where a portion of the Boone High School complex is the current occupant.

     The Boone County Fair has drawn some famous musical artists......Tim McGraw, Garth Brooks, Brooks and Dunn. Wife Jo and I recall that during the Obama campaign for the presidency, we watched Michelle Obama make a presentation in the lower level of the Boone County Historical Society building. Alan Thicke, Ryan Reynolds and McDonald Carey were movie stars who made their way to Boone Iowa at various times.

      I'm sure other celebs, we've forgotten or didn't know about, have made their way to this Central Iowa community through the years as well.

K-----K

     There are several individuals that deserved at least a mention that we simply didn't have time to get into very deeply.

     For example: Boone boasts being the original home of one Iowa governor. Norman Erbe, BHS-37, served Iowans from the state capitol in the early 1960's.

     Did you know a Boone native was an NCAA champion? Lloyd Courter, BHS-53, won the NCAA billiards championship while a student at the State University of Iowa.

     A long time major league baseball catcher had a Boone connection. Jimmy Archer played baseball in Boone and had a nice major league career as did several other Boone players back in the 1920's. Archer married a Boone girl, Lillian Stark.

     Dr. Ed Updegraff, BHS-37, went from an Iowa High School golf championship to a long career, including several years as the nation's top amateur player and some appearances as a USA representative on Walker Cup teams. 

     Mike Pace lived and worked in Boone as a radio announcer at KWBG on two different occasions and, eventually, spent 20 years in the nation's living room each Saturday night as he hosted the weekly Powerball drawings

 K-----K

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